Today's News

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A former U.S. congressman invited by Moammar Gadhafi arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday on a self-described private mission to urge the Libyan leader to step down as rebels and pro-government forces waged near stalemate battles.

Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who has visited Libya twice before, said he leading a private delegation and had informed the White House and some members of Congress about his trip. He was in Libya's capital as a White House envoy, Chris Stevens, was meeting rebels in their de facto capital, Benghazi, to gauge their intentions and capabilities.

ALAMOGORDO (AP) — A senior trial prosecutor collapsed and died in Tuesday during a hearing in an Alamogordo courtroom.

Wayne Jordon was in state District Judge Jerry Ritter's courtroom for a motion to determine an attorney for a defendant.

District Attorney Diana Martwick declined comment out of respect for Jordon's family.

Jordon had become a senior trial prosecutor for the district attorney's office in 2007.

The longtime Alamogordo resident received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1969. He received his law degree from the UNM School of Law in 1972.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Talks are intensifying on Capitol Hill on reaching a deal on long-overdue legislation to finance the government through the end of September — and avoid a government shutdown. Whether a shutdown can be avoided in three days' time is another matter.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Tax documents show unwed mother Bristol Palin earned more than $262,000 for her role in helping raise awareness for teen pregnancy prevention in 2009.

The most recent data for The Candie's Foundation that's posted online by research firm GuideStar shows compensation at $262,500 for the now 20-year-old daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.

Bristol Palin was 18 when she was appointed as a teen ambassador for the New York-based foundation in 2009, months after giving birth to son, Tripp. She and the 2-year-old boy's father, Levi Johnston, are no longer together.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — This NCAA tournament had plenty of twists, turns and upsets even before the championship game. Gary Blair and Texas A&M delivered a thrilling ending.

This was the supposed to be the year Maya Moore's Connecticut juggernaut won its third straight title or Stanford broke through or Tennessee got back to the top.

Instead, the Aggies rewrote the script in their first Final Four appearance. They made the 65-year-old Blair the oldest coach to win a national championship just one night after UConn's 68-year-old Jim Calhoun did the same thing on the men's side.

ESPANOLA, N.M. (AP) — Police in the northern New Mexico city of Espanola say a man tried to get help at a hospital emergency room for a woman who had been dead as long as a day and a half.

Officers say Jerry Maestas drove to the hospital Tuesday with the 33-year-old woman's decomposing body propped up in the passenger seat.

The 64-year-old Maestas asked hospital staff to come outside and help his sick friend. Police spokesman Jeremy Apodaca says the staff could tell by the smell that the woman had been dead for some time.

KOB-TV reports that the woman may have been dead for 24 to 36 hours, and Maestas will face charges of failing to report a death.

TOKYO (AP) — After notching a rare victory by stopping highly radioactive water from flowing into the Pacific on Wednesday, workers at Japan's flooded nuclear power complex turned to their next task: injecting nitrogen to prevent more hydrogen explosions.

Nuclear officials said there was no immediate threat of explosions like the three that rocked the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant not long after a massive tsunami hit last month, but their plans are a reminder of how much work remains to stabilize the complex.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Heavy arms fire rang out Wednesday near the home of the country's strongman who remained holed up in a subterranean bunker, as forces backing his rival assaulted the residence to try to force him out, diplomats and witnesses said.

A spokeswoman for the government of the country's democratically elected president Alassane Ouattara said on France-24 television that pro-Ouattara forces had entered the gates of Laurent Gbagbo's residence.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — An enormous tree limb that crashed through a Georgia family's bedroom killed a father and the young son he was holding in his arms Tuesday as a fast-moving storm system pounded the South with tornadoes, hail and spectacular lightning. At least nine people were killed around the region, including several who died on roads made treacherous by downed trees and power lines.

Paramedics found the 4-year-old boy, Alix Bonhomme III, wrapped in the arms of his father, Alix Bonhomme Jr., in a sight so wrenching that even grizzled rescuers wept. Miraculously, a younger son in the bedroom wasn't hurt, nor was Bonhomme's fiancée, Marcie Moorer, who was sleeping in another room.